2. THOMAS MALTHUS
๏ 19th century economist
๏ Believed that because population grows
geometrically and food production
arithmetically famine was inevitable.
๏ Slowing the growth of population was the only
possibility to prevent starvation
History (so far) has proven Malthus wrong . . .
5. There are two important
terms to bear in mind here:
๏ Food entitlement deficit (FED) suggests
that food shortages were caused by a lack of
wages/income (rising costs of food relative to
average incomes)
๏ Food availability deficit (FAD) suggests that
food shortages were caused by local
difficulties in supply, perhaps the result of
drought or floods
6. What is the Green
Revolution
๏ The term Green Revolution refers to the
renovation of agricultural practices
beginning in Mexico in the 1940s.
Because of its success in producing
more agricultural products there, Green
Revolution technologies spread
worldwide in the 1950s and
1960s, significantly increasing the
amount of calories produced per acre of
agriculture.
7. ๏ The crops developed during the Green
Revolution were high yield varieties -
meaning they were domesticated plants
bred specifically to respond to fertilizers
and produce an increased amount of
grain per acre planted.
8. GREEN REVOLUTION
๏ Adoption of new,
improved varieties of
grains
๏ Application of better
agricultural techniques
๏ Irrigation
๏ Mechanization
๏ Use of fertilizer
๏ Use of pesticides
๏ Since 1950โs
๏ Greatest effect felt in
LDCs
๏ Agricultural output
outpaced population
growth even without
adding additional
cropland
A complex of improvements which greatly
increased agricultural production
11. โGolden Riceโ
THE GREAT YELLOW HOPE
๏ In 1982, the Rockefeller
Foundation funded research
into rice varieties to promote
global health
๏ Nutritionally enhanced rice
๏ Used a daffodil gene
๏ Rice now produces beta-carotene
๏ The body converts beta-carotene
to vitamin A
๏ Blindness in LDCs is caused by
vitamin A deficiencies
๏ Time Magazine declares: โThis
rice could save a million kids a
year.โ
๏ Greenpeace acknowledged:
โGolden rice is a moral
challenge to our position.โ
12. โGolden Riceโ
THE GREAT YELLOW HYPE
๏ An 11 year-old child would need to
eat 15 pounds of golden rice a day
to satisfy the minimum daily
requirement of vitamin A
๏ Conversion of beta-carotene to
vitamin A requires fat and protein in
the diet (these are lacking in LDCs)
๏ Asians may not want to eat golden
rice โ they prefer white rice over the
more nutrient rich brown rice which
has always existed
๏ Education to push golden rice costs
money โ why not just hand out
vitamin A?
๏ Golden rice cost more than $100
million to develop โ it is just a PR
stunt for genetically altered foods
13. โGreen Revolutionโ
benefits
ยง Core exports high-yield โmiracleโ seeds
ยง Needed oil-based fertilizers, pesticides
ยง Asian rice crop up 66% in 1965-85
ยง Favored areas with good soil, weather
15. โGreen Revolutionโ
drawbacks
ยง Favored farmers who could afford seeds,
inputs, machines, irrigation
ยง Indebted farmers lost land, moved to cities
ยง New โmonocropsโ lacked resistance to
disease/pests
ยง Environmental contamination, erosion
ยง Oriented to export โcash crops,โ not domestic
food
16. Biotechnology:
Using organisms toโฆ
ยง Make or modify products
ยง Improve plants or animals
ยง Develop new microorganisms
ยง Crossing natural divides between species
ยง Not just crossbreeding
24. Biotechnology
drawbacks in agriculture
ยง High costs (available to few)
ยง Monocrops have less tolerance to disease
ยง Possible health effects
ยง Contamination of wild crops (โsuperweedsโ)
ยง Corporate patents on life forms
